Saturday's Scoreboard
Western Michigan 1, SIUE 1
Bowling Green 1, NIU 0
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Western Michigan 1, SIUE 1
Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's soccer team concluded its 2019 regular season campaign with a 1-1 draw against SIU Edwardsville in Mid-American Conference play. Following the result, the Broncos are now 11-5-2 overall and 2-1-2 in conference action.
"We had a lot of the possession today, but lacked that killer instinct in the attacking third," stated head coach Chad Wiseman. "SIUE is a good team and I thought we did a fantastic job defensively on their two talented forwards. We were aware of where they were on the field and sent help when needed."
SIUE scored the opening goal of the match in the 22nd minute, with Jake Meier scoring his first of the season in unassisted fashion. Despite out-shooting the Cougars 7-3 in the first half, WMU trailed by one following 45 minutes of play.
The Broncos continued to apply offensive pressure in the second half and earned an equalizing goal in the 62nd minute. Sophomore forward Eric Conerty scored a header off a free kick ball from senior defender Paul Liagre. Conerty, a transfer from Butler, now has five goals on the year for Western Michigan.
The Broncos earned 13 corner kicks on the afternoon and recorded seven shots on goal, compared to just three corner kicks and four shots on goal for SIUE.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Isaac Walker made three saves in net for WMU and is now 9-2-2 on the year.
Jake DeJulio, Anthony Bowie, Alex Ruddock, Giuseppe Vitale, Paul Liagre and Sam Biek all saw action in their final regular season match in Kalamazoo and were honored prior to the game for Senior Day 2019.
"Congratulations to our six seniors as making it to senior day in college athletics is one of the toughest things to do," Wiseman exclaimed. "These group of guys are great young men with strong character and represent our great university well."
The Broncos will now wait to see where they will be seeded in the 2019 MAC Championship, which will begin this Tuesday with a pair of quarterfinal contests.
"It's now tournament time and we need to elevate our game to another level," concluded Wiseman. "We have the talent, we just need to get more focused and pay attention to all the details. I'm looking forward to seeing what this team can achieve in the postseason."
Bowling Green 1, NIU 0
Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- Junior Vinny Worner's goal in the 10th minute proved to be all the offense that the Bowling Green State University men's soccer team would need, as the Falcons downed Northern Illinois University, 1-0, on Saturday night (Nov. 9). The Mid-American Conference contest, the final regular-season match for both teams, was held at Cochrane Stadium.
With the win, the Falcons (11-6-1, 2-3-0 MAC) moved into a tie for fourth place in the final MAC standings. BGSU is deadlocked with the Huskies (7-9-1, 2-3-0 MAC) at that spot, but the Falcons win the tiebreaker by virtue of the head-to-head results. The teams will meet again at Cochrane on Tuesday (Nov. 12), in the quarterfinal round of the MAC Tournament.
Sophomore Matt Walters and senior Charlie Maciejewski drew assists on Worner's winner. Maciejewski stole the ball from a Huskie player on the right side of the field, and slid a pass ahead to Walters. Walters took one touch as he streaked toward the end line, then played a low cross back toward Worner.
From the right side of the six-yard box, Worner hit a quick one-timer that beat NIU goalkeeper Martin Sanchez to the near side.
That proved to be the only goal the Falcons would need, although both teams had solid chances over the remaining 80-plus minutes. Senior goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia made four saves in the win, with all coming in the second half, to earn his 10th shutout of the season. Mwembia is the first Falcon 'keeper with a double-digit shutout total since BGSU Hall-of-Famer Scott Vallow in 1998.
Sanchez made four stops, all in the opening half, for the visitors. His four saves included a diving stop of a BG penalty kick late in the first half.
The winner of Tuesday's BGSU-NIU match will advance to the MAC Tournament semifinals on Friday (Nov. 15), taking on top-seeded Akron at Akron.
